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Enterprise architecture is important to CIOs because . . .
When IT people imagine an enterprise architect (EA), they picture a technology expert who can write code and spends his or her time deep in projects. The building architect creates a vision and turns it into reality, while the EA fills a role closer to that of an engineer, whose principal job is to ensure things are built to according to plan, rather than to create that plan in the first place.
Of all the IT positions, the head of enterprise architecture is by far the most difficult to recruit for. The right candidate needs to have some expertise in every layer of the technology stack, a keen understanding of the business, the ability to manage a matrixed (and peevish) group of siloed technologists, and the je ne sais quoi to sell concepts like service-oriented architecture to uninterested business executives. If there is one position that truly embodies the CIO paradox, it is this one.
Enterprise architects need to be strategic but not esoteric and have great interpersonal skills. The business has limited tolerance for expensive senior executives who appear to do little more than produce a written treatise on development standards. When times are tough, enterprise architecture is often the first to go.
Over the next 5 to 10 years, the business-focused aspect of the architecture function will become embedded in business areas, while the technology-oriented pieces will stay with IT. And while the IT-resident role will still be called "IT architecture," the business-embedded role will take on a new title: planning and innovation management.
Good architects realize that they need to provide incremental project-based business value, not focus solely on a technology destination somewhere out on the horizon.
The EA role has already come a long way from its roots in engineering. Soon, across a broad swath of business, the EA profession will enjoy all the visionary status implied by the title "architect."--original page content adapted from IDG Newswire